body while it attempted to fight off the virus.”
“Right,” Susan said, “a theory that was given credence by the fact that Victor’s hippocampus has continued to exhibit activity even though he shows no traditional life signs. Although histamine is generally thought of as an arousal molecule, it does seem to have a depressive function as well.”
“So what has changed with my father?”
Susan looked at the chart. “His histamine levels are beginning to fall.”
“Is that a good thing?” Ryan asked.
“I’m not certain. This still seems more science fiction than science. Victor’s levels of histamine were stratospheric to begin with, so they are not dropping down to what could be considered ‘normal’ levels. But the decrease may be a sign he is preparing to come out of stasis. At least it is some type of change.”
Ryan was not satisfied. “But you are not certain it’s a good change.”
“No, I’m not. And there is one additional variation to factor in. The rate of mutation of his mitochondrial DNA has slowed as well. Again, I am uncertain if this is a positive or negative change. It could be negative, an indication his system is failing and he is no longer able to fight off the attack.”
“Is that what you believe?”
Susan shook her head, much to Ryan’s relief. “No. Actually I think it is probably a positive sign. There are no symptoms indicating his condition has worsened. My guess is that his system is beginning to repair itself. And I found something incredible that may be aiding your father, and I have confirmed it exists in both you and Drake as well. ”
“You have analyzed Drake’s results?”
“Yes,” Susan said, “it is amazing how much I can accomplish now that I no longer have to sleep. Drake, unsurprisingly, has 92 chromosomal pairs, just as you and Victor. And you will be relieved to know he also exhibits considerable uniparental disomy, just as you do.”
“So most of his chromosomes come from me, not Aeron.”
Susan smiled at the wry tone of voice. “Yes, just as most of yours come from Victor, an extremely unusual occurrence in nature, one that generally produces fatal results. But that’s not what I found so interesting.”
Susan spread out a chart on the table in front of her. “Drake also has the ‘I’ nucleotide, leading credence to the theory that it is something specific to your family. It seems to be passed on only in sexual reproduction and not through Sharing, because I have not identified it in anyone else. I do not know if it can be passed by the Change because Victor has Changed only you, and you have Changed no one.”
Susan stood upright. “Anyway, this fifth nucleotide is acting in a very favorable way right now.”
“How is that?” Ryan asked.
“This fifth nucleotide has created an RNA strand that is acting similar to a Dicer or Argonaut protein.”
“And this is good because?”
Susan explained. “One of the purposes of RNA transcription is gene silencing. In other words, the ability to turn off the production of certain genes that might be harmful. That is exactly what Dicer and Argonaut proteins do in both animals and plants, in a very precise way. And that is exactly what this new RNA strand is doing. It might be why your system is easily able to accommodate the extra set of chromosomes you have. And it is probably how you fought off the virus.”
“It acted as a master switch,” Ryan said reflectively, “and shut down what was causing damage.”
“Exactly,” Susan said, “and my hope is that this is what is slowing the rate of mutation in your father’s system, as opposed to any type of organic failure.”
It was not a definite finding, but it was at least hopeful. “Thank you, as always,” Ryan said, “is there anything I can do at this point?”
“I think we just continue to wait,” Susan said. She wished she had more definitive news for Ryan, but she wanted to err on the side of caution. At least now she was
“Right,” Susan said, “a theory that was given credence by the fact that Victor’s hippocampus has continued to exhibit activity even though he shows no traditional life signs. Although histamine is generally thought of as an arousal molecule, it does seem to have a depressive function as well.”
“So what has changed with my father?”
Susan looked at the chart. “His histamine levels are beginning to fall.”
“Is that a good thing?” Ryan asked.
“I’m not certain. This still seems more science fiction than science. Victor’s levels of histamine were stratospheric to begin with, so they are not dropping down to what could be considered ‘normal’ levels. But the decrease may be a sign he is preparing to come out of stasis. At least it is some type of change.”
Ryan was not satisfied. “But you are not certain it’s a good change.”
“No, I’m not. And there is one additional variation to factor in. The rate of mutation of his mitochondrial DNA has slowed as well. Again, I am uncertain if this is a positive or negative change. It could be negative, an indication his system is failing and he is no longer able to fight off the attack.”
“Is that what you believe?”
Susan shook her head, much to Ryan’s relief. “No. Actually I think it is probably a positive sign. There are no symptoms indicating his condition has worsened. My guess is that his system is beginning to repair itself. And I found something incredible that may be aiding your father, and I have confirmed it exists in both you and Drake as well. ”
“You have analyzed Drake’s results?”
“Yes,” Susan said, “it is amazing how much I can accomplish now that I no longer have to sleep. Drake, unsurprisingly, has 92 chromosomal pairs, just as you and Victor. And you will be relieved to know he also exhibits considerable uniparental disomy, just as you do.”
“So most of his chromosomes come from me, not Aeron.”
Susan smiled at the wry tone of voice. “Yes, just as most of yours come from Victor, an extremely unusual occurrence in nature, one that generally produces fatal results. But that’s not what I found so interesting.”
Susan spread out a chart on the table in front of her. “Drake also has the ‘I’ nucleotide, leading credence to the theory that it is something specific to your family. It seems to be passed on only in sexual reproduction and not through Sharing, because I have not identified it in anyone else. I do not know if it can be passed by the Change because Victor has Changed only you, and you have Changed no one.”
Susan stood upright. “Anyway, this fifth nucleotide is acting in a very favorable way right now.”
“How is that?” Ryan asked.
“This fifth nucleotide has created an RNA strand that is acting similar to a Dicer or Argonaut protein.”
“And this is good because?”
Susan explained. “One of the purposes of RNA transcription is gene silencing. In other words, the ability to turn off the production of certain genes that might be harmful. That is exactly what Dicer and Argonaut proteins do in both animals and plants, in a very precise way. And that is exactly what this new RNA strand is doing. It might be why your system is easily able to accommodate the extra set of chromosomes you have. And it is probably how you fought off the virus.”
“It acted as a master switch,” Ryan said reflectively, “and shut down what was causing damage.”
“Exactly,” Susan said, “and my hope is that this is what is slowing the rate of mutation in your father’s system, as opposed to any type of organic failure.”
It was not a definite finding, but it was at least hopeful. “Thank you, as always,” Ryan said, “is there anything I can do at this point?”
“I think we just continue to wait,” Susan said. She wished she had more definitive news for Ryan, but she wanted to err on the side of caution. At least now she was
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